Australian Connection at Almanzor Premiere

There was an Australian connection as shuttle stallion Almanzor celebrated his first winner of his first runner at Chantilly on Monday.

Faro de San Juan (favorite at $ 2.30) won the Prix du Soleil de Bretagne (1100m) of € 27,000 (A $ 41,000), featuring nine two-year-olds in their debut. Trained locally by Francis-Henri Graffard, the colt has always been prominent for Pierre Charles-Boudot, winning by half a length.

South Australian breeder Peter Katelanis owns 40 percent of Faro de San Juan, who is one of 89 two-year-olds from Almanzor’s first harvest.

“I just been with friends over the long weekend at Kangaroo Island and just told them I didn’t fall asleep until God knew what time last night,” Katelanis said.

Katelanis, who has raced domestically as the winners of Stakes Don’t Doubt Mamma, Shrouded In Mist and Instinction, has formed a healthy association with Nicolas de Chambure, who runs the French stud Haras d’Etreham.

Haras d’Etreham bred Almanzor, a son of Wootton Bassett, and keep him at stud in the northern hemisphere. Almanzor won the Prix du Jockey Club, Irish Champion Stakes and British Champion Stakes in 2016.

“Nico and I met about six years ago, he bought my family, the first Foxwedge filly that I raised, from the first season of Foxwedge. He took 50 percent of that,” said Katelanis, referring to three-time winner A Mist Opportunity, who was a midweek winner in Sydney.

“And I returned the favor because I then took 50 percent of a Kodiac filly, her name was Fixette and only won one maiden, but she was placed in a few French races from group 3 and was very, very quick.

“So we ended up selling Fixette for a little money (375,000 guineas at the Tattersalls 2018 December sale, full of Almanzor, around A $ 735,000) but we figured we would keep the first foal when she would finally get it and buy it. (for 160,000 guineas from the Tattersalls foal sale in December 2019, approximately AU $ 313,000). “

1st runner, 1st winner!
Today was the day we have all been waiting for and we couldn’t hope for a better start to #Almanzor1st FARO DE SAN JUAN rider swept to victory in the Px du Soleil de Bretagne @fgchantilly ! Congratulations to all! @GraffardRacing @peterkatelanis https://t.co/TuU02prvy6

– Haras d’Etreham (@Haras_d_Etreham) April 26, 2021

Graffard trained Fixette and was therefore entrusted with Faro de San Juan, who is expected to reappear next month in a two-year Listed race.

“Faro de San Juan showed a lot and it doesn’t surprise me that this colt is precocious because the mare Fixette was so fast,” said Katelanis.

“We weren’t expecting him to lead, he never did that, he was trained to sit behind. We expected another horse in the race to lead and we were going. sit behind, so he got into a rhythm that he wasn’t. Before, I thought it was a very powerful win.

“Hopefully he gets to the 1,400 to 1,600 yards, where his father’s bloodlines help.”

Katelanis tends to run her own cattle in Australia, but is keen to trade horses in Europe where market forces encourage a different approach.

“On the back of this one (Faro de San Juan), Nico and I inquired about his second foal, a No Nay Never filly, and we bought 50 percent,” Katelanis said.

“I was looking forward to bringing international blood to my families so A Mist Opportunity is out there now and her first foal is from Showcasing and we are putting her up for sale. She just dropped a Wootton Bassett foal that we’re probably going to run on. “

Wootton Bassett has since been sold by Haras d’Etreham to Coolmore Stud and will travel to Australia for the 2021 breeding season, while Almanzor will sail to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand and his first yearlings have been sold in the main Australasian sales. this year.

Almanzor’s best-selling offspring was a foal of Lazumba, a Flemington winner trained by Steve Richards, who was bought for $ 800,000 at the Gold Coast Magic Millions sale.

Cambridge Stud announced last month that Almanzor has a full mare book ahead of the 2021 breeding season, with a service charge of NZ $ 30,000.

Katelanis will have another first starter in France this week, the three-year-old filly Wootton Bassett A New Opportunity of which he owns 33%, Haras d’Etreham also owning a third.

A New Opportunity is an acceptor for the € 27,000 (1600m) Praline Prize for three-year-old fillies who will make their Saint-Cloud debut on Wednesday (1:35 AEST Thursday).